The Mystery of Ryeburn Manor.

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 65

The Mystery of Ryeburn Manor.

By

JOHN LAURENCE,

Author of “ The Sign of the Double Cross Inn,” etc.

(Special for the Otago Witness.)

He arrived in London just before seven,' and drove straight to Scotland Yard. Neither the Commissioner nor Superintendent Markham was there, and he left word that he would return between 9.30 and 10. “D.V. seems cheerful,” remarked the sergeant, who had been instructed to get in touch with his chiefs. “ I reckon the murderer of Simmonds is for it to-night.’ “He always hums the ‘ Soldiers’ chorus ’ when he’s going to hang somebody,” replied his companion. “Watch the papers to-morrow: Sensational Arrest in the Ditchling Road Murder!” Inspector Vidlcr was in his own room at the moment, changing into evening dress. The “Soldiers’ Chorus” was going strong, and as he only knew a few bars it was being repeated with monotonous regularity which would' have maddened any listener. He drove to a well-known restaurant in Piccadilly, and there dined as though he had no cares in the world. A few minutes before nine he rose leisurely, with the air of a man who had dined well. A policeman standing beside the saloon, with an open notebook, taking particulars for obstruction, suddenly stiffened at the sight of him and saluted. “ Sorry, sir, didn’t know it was your car,” he apologised. Vidler smiled as he drove off. He was feeling happy with the world. He believed in his bones that the experiment he was going to try would come off. It was only a link in the chain he had been definitely forging the last 24 hours, but it was an important link. The saloon had been garaged at Strudland Garage on the night of the murder between the hours of 9.15 and 11.15. The garage attendant had not remembered who had driven it, but he would probably remember the car. And if he remembered that, something might come back to him, some little incident, which would make him recall the owner. It was an experiment in psychology and mnemonics as it were, one thing recalling another. The big blue Forrest saloon swung into the garage precisely at 9.15.

* * ¥ THE EXPERIMENT.

“ How long do you want to leave it. sir?” asked the attendant, looking at the number and beginning to enter it on a counterfoil. “ Name, sir ? ” “About a couple of hours. Robinson,’’ replied Vidler briefly. “ That valve given no further trouble sir?” said the attendant, tearing out the counterfoil.

Vidler smiled grimly. The attendant had spoken half-unconsciously, quite unaware of the psychological process which had brought back to his mind the last time the saloon had been garaged there Vidler noticed that he was looking at the car, not at himself. Like most people who deal day and: night with ears, it is the car and its idiosyncrasies which are remembered, more than the owner.

“ Didn’t know it had given any trouble,” replied Vidler frankly. “ 1 wasn’t driving when it was last here.” The attendant looked at him quickly. “ Sorry, sir, of course not. It was another gentleman.” “ In evening dress? ” asked Vidler. “ Yes, sir.” “Do you think you would know him again ? ” • “ Yes, sir.” The attendant was answering readily enough now. “ Rather a thick-set gentleman.” “ That the man ? ” The inspector held out a photograph. “That’s him, sir. Remember now, he gave me rather a ’andsome tip.” “Here’s another,” said Vidler. "I’ve changed my mind.” Before the attendant could say anything further the saloon was* being backed out of the garage. “ And that’s that,” said Vidler to himself. “And one in the eye for John’s routine methods of investigation.” He grinned cheerfully as he thought of the expression which would show on

the superintendent’s face when the latter learned how the identification had been made. He found both Markham and the commissioner waiting his arrival. “Fine time of night to start business,” grumbled the superintendent good-humouredly. “Office hours ten to four, only the wrong ten and the wrong four as far as I am concerned.” “ Your chief business in life, John,” said Vidler cheerfully, “is watching other people work? Sorry to tear you away from the little woman and the yapping children, but after all you are a superintendent of New Scotland Yard, though it must have been favouritism.” Markham stroked his beard, and his eyes twinkled as he looked at the commissioner.

“ The laddie’s going to be funny. That comes of dining out. - Has the fair Lilian de Hava been honouring you ? Why the boiled shirt and the white tie and the lovely swallow-tails ? You haven’t got the orders and decorations. D.V.? ”

“ I have dined alone,” replied Vidler. “ I find it helps me to think. I’ve done my thinking when I come to talk to you two. You put me off.”

“ And what have your thoughts led you to ? ” asked the Commissioner quietly.

He knew the inspector’s japing hid something important, and he was not surprised at the answer he received. “ The person who murdered Simmonds,” replied Vidler. V VIDLER EXPOUNDS. “ You found out who killed Simmonds ? ” boomed Markham, his eyes lighting up. “ Excellent fellow ! I W’as saying to the commissioner to-day I believe you’d got brains. You’ve got a good friend in me, D.V.” Vidler lighted a cigarette and settled back in his chair.

“ How will you have it ? ” he asked. “ From the beginning or the name first and details after ? ”

“ Better work up to the dramatic climax,” suggested Sir Arthur. “It will give you practice when you retire and begin writing your reminiscences.” “ The inspector watched a smoke ring curl upwards in a slowly-expanding circle.

“I eliminated Harding because he wasn’t the type, because he was in no need of money, and because he had no motive. I kept an eye on him at first, till I was really satisfied. Jennings I checked up and found to be 0.K., though he is a Uriah Heep. Miss Sunderland was my first string. That bit of paper with her writing on it was rather damning evidence that she was mixed up in it, but the two keys were rather a facer. One made for Simmonds and one for Thornton. After that Thornton came rapidly into the picture.” “ The evidence against Thornton seemed strong enough to justify his arrest, I thought,” observed Sir Arthur “ It was touch and go, only I couldn’t reconcile certain facts with his guilt.” admitted Vidler. “ Why didn’t he open the safe and take the pearls, if he had killed Simmonds? Who was the man who shook his fist at him and Miss Sunderland when they left the summerhouse? Who was the man who shot al Harding and myself? Although Thorn ton had a revolver in his room, I was certain it hadn’t been fired. And who was the man who tampered with Harding’s aeroplane? The answer, Thornton, didn’t seem to fit in somehow.

“ He’d got a motive, apart from the robbery of the pearls, in that he and Simmonds had quarrelled. He wanted the pearls in order to get rid of Lilian de Hava, but didn’t take them. The burglar alarm does not work” from the safe, and Simmonds was dead when Miss Sunderland found him. That was before the alarm went off. It looked to me Thornton had missed an opportunity. A man who had committed a murder would not have hesitated to carry out a robbery. I had my doubts.” “ Miss Sunderland was there, then? ” Vidler briefly outlined what Sheila had told him.

“ I suspected, of course, some time ago, that she was shielding Thornton, and if she had told her story in the beginning I think it would only have confirmed my opinion that he wasn’t the murderer. Thornton was obviously out to make money, and he didn’t care very much how he made it. The murder of Simmonds gave him a golden opportunity and offered him a chance of getting fai more than the pearls were worth, for he’d seen the person who killed Simmonds.”

“ Thornton was a nasty piece of work,” observed the commissioner. “Very,” agreed Vidler. “He’d have come to a bad end if he hadn’t been killed. He was the type that can’t keep straight where money is concerned. At Winchelsca I made my first interesting discovery, the remarkable mileage to the gallon, of Lee’s saloon car. It had done 150 miles and used no petrol and no oil. That’s the kind of car I want. A hun dred and fifty miles is roughly the distance between Hastings and London and back. . And the journey had been done on the night of the murder.” “ I found out who used the car that evening, and from that moment everything began to fit in.” “Lee, of course,” said Sir Arthur. “ Lee,” nodded the inspector. “ No one thought of Lee in the first place because he had apparently, a perfectly good alibi, whereas Thornton had not, nor had Miss Sunderland. Lee had been to a <-i : - and dance at Hastings given by a society of which he was a member. I spes, of to-day interviewing the guests at that dinner. Many of them remembered Lee being present at the dance, which went on till 3 o’clock in the morning, but none of them could, swear positively that they had seen him at the dinner, and none could, say when he appeared at the dance Luckily the secretary had kept a rough copy of the plan of the tables, and the positions of the people. I found out where Lee was supposed to be sitting, and interviewed the diners on each side of him. Lee’s place was vacant.” “ Good work,” said Markham. “ Pity the garage man in London wasn’t able to give a description of him.” “Pity you don’t study the human mind, John,” jeered Vidler complacently. " He has identified him to-night. 1 drove up in the saloon at the same time as Lee must have done. He recognised

the car and confused me with Lee at once. The car brought Lee back to his mind more definitely, however, when f explained. I showed him Lee’s photograph, and he recognised it instantly as the man who called himself Robinson.” “ What motive had Lee ? ”

“ I’m not sure yet,” confessed the inspector. “ But I fancy it was something to do with Simmonds’s father. Simmonds didn’t get employment at Ryeburn Manor by accident. Everything points to the fact that he entered the house to find some paper which would prove Lee had ruined his father.”

“ That’s a good guess, D.V.,” said the commissioner. “ We’ve been inquiring about Simmonds -for you. His father's business was turned into a company during the war, and began to make huge profits. But the power got into the hands of Lee and his associates, and they froze Simmonds out, so he lost ail his money.” ‘ That supplies motive,” said Vidler. One, at any rate. Another, I fanev, wa s a misplaced affection for Miss Sunderland and the discovery that Thornton was after her. When he saw her writing on that paper he must have put two and two together pretty quickly. ' It was clever, knocking the inkpot all over it, though I didn’t realise the importance of it at the time.”

“Is that your case against him ? ” asked Markham. “ It’s not over strong. ’ {i Agreed,” replied Vidler cheerfully. “But I’m not going to charge him with the murder of Simmonds. I’m charging him with killing Thornton. Simmonds will do as a second string.” I thought Thornton had gone out too much at the right time,” said Markham.

Lee s story is that a bullet struck the windscreen, went through it, and killed Thornton, who pitched against him and made him lose control. First of all, a bullet striking the windscreen couldn t have gone into Thornton’s head by his ear. Try to imagine it. It must have caught him in the front of his head, not towards the back. Secondly the car was in bottom gear, and there was no earthly reason for it to be so, unless the car had been stopped. Thirdly, the fast-running control was so set that if the gear was put in the car would have leaped forward. Fourthly, Thornton’s ribs were smashed as though the wheel had struck him, though Lee admitted he was driving. Fifthly, all Lee s cuts are superficial. I had a long chat with Luding, and it is a queer thin» that the cuts were on his left hand and arm and on his face only. Those on his face were hardly more than grazes, though they bled a lot. And lastly, 1 have examined every bit of the broken glass, and there’s no sign of a bullet hole.

Vou think Lee shot him, put him over the wheel, and then let the gear in while the engine was running fast?" asked the commissioner. “ I’ve no doubt about it,” said Vidler. Nor have I,” agreed the superinYou’ve made out your - case,

“Agreed,” said Sir Arthur. When the triumvirate agreed there was nothing more to be said. The case was complete, except for details. “He’s a pretty bad hat,” said the superintendent. “ Telephone.” . Yes, Sir Arthur Hamblen speaking, said the commissioner. “Who’ The manager of the Western Bank, Studland road. . . . Yes. . . .All right. . . Yes, most important. I’ll be here.” He replaced the receiver with a chuckle.

“ That was the manager of the Western Bank. He explained that he had only just read in his evening paper of the accident to Lee and Thornton. 1 hornton banks with him and gave him a sealed envelope only two days ago and made the manager promise* that the instant he heard of his customer’s death he would bring the envelope straight to me. Thornton told him that he went in fear of his life.”

When, an hour later, the bank manager arrived, it was to Vidler that the commissioner handed the letter. “ I think you should have it first,” he said. “It is the corner-stone of your efforts. Read it aloud.”

It was addressed to the chief commissioner, and ran:

“In case I die suddenly from any cause whatever, though it may appear an accident, this is to state that I have been murdered by James Lee, who murdered Simmonds. On the night of the murder of the latter I was in Ditchling road, waiting for Miss Sunderland to appear. I was hidden behind the curtains in the dining room when Simmonds entered. He began feeling along the wall, searching for the safe when Lee found him. Lee walked across the room in an apparent fury, calling Simmonds by all the vile names lie could.

“Simmonds stood by the safe laughing and Lee snatched up a poker and struck him. It was all over before 1 could intervene. Lee wiped the handle of the poker with the corner of the rug and went out of the room. I was just about to step out when Miss Sunderland came in. She didn’t see Simmonds until she was nearly up to him, and then she turned and ran. I came out at once, fearing she would meet Lee. 1 heard her go upstairs, and then the burglar alarm went off. Lee had gone out through one of the back windows, and shut it down after him. I was standing beside it when the policeman passed in the garden.. When he went round to the front I got out through the window and made my way home.— Charles Thornton.”

“You’ll make the arrest yourself?” asked Markham. Vidler nodded.

“ I should have liked to have got Thornton as well,” he said angrily. “ You notice he dragged Miss Sunderland’s name in, and he left her to face the music that night to save his own skin.”

On his way to Ryeburn Manor Vidler called at Rye and' enlisted the services of Inspector Lester. They found Lee in the library, and they entered unannounced.

He looked up from his papers in front of him with an angry expression on his face, which instantly changed when he saw’ Vidler. The latter was curt. His eye had caught sight of the open safe, and he had no doubt that the papers through which Lee was poring contained one which might prove the final link in the chain.

“ This is Inspector Lester, of the Sussex County Constabulary, Lee.. I hold a warrant for your arrest for the murder of Charles Thornton, and I w’arn you that anything you may say ” Lee rose heavily to his feet as Vidler repeated the well-worn formula. Underneath the natural red of his complexion a greyish tinge was showing. His eyes half-closed as he looked at the detective, and he gripped the back of the chair to steady himself. Even at the last, however, his iron self-control did not break. Lee had been a .gambler all his life, and though now he had gambled with his own life he was ready to pay the penalty of losing. Vidler had been prepared for an outburst, and he could nob help feeling a little sorry at Lee’s misplaced courage.

“ You’re half an hour earlier than 1 thought you’d be, Vidler,” he said with a wry smile. “ I W’as just clearing up. That fool mistake between shots and bullets did me. I knew it w’ould only be a matter of time. Thornton was blackmailing me.”

He spoke without heat, almost coldly. “ I think I know why,” said Vidler, keeping a Wary eye on the other. “ For killing Simmonds,” continued Lee readily. “ One of my friends rang up this morning and told me you’d been making inquiries about my movements in Hastings that night. I lost my wool. I had no intention of killing him, but the fool stood there grinning at me, the same fool grin his father gave me when he found I’d got control. You’ll find the evidence there. If he hadn’t looked like his father then he might have been alive now. Thornton was behind the curtains.” “ I know.”

“ You’re clever, Vidler. I ought to have known you’d never be bluffed, and cleared out. I thought I’d got you and Harding in his aeroplane. I’m ready. Get it over. I’m tired.”

He held out his wrists. With his last words his attitude changed. His mouth dropped, his shoulders hunched, his whole frame sagged. Nor did he speak again, save when he entered the saloon.

“ Poetic justice, using this.” Vidler was thankful that they had missed everyone at the Ryeburn Manor. It would be easier to explain when they had got their prisoner away than while he was still there.

He returned to the Manor in the afternoon, after seeing Lee formally charged at Rye. The news had already spread to the Manor, Lee’s sole request being that a telephone message should be sent to his wife to come and see him, so that the inspector was spared the task of telling her of the arrest of her husband. He found Sheila and Harding waiting for him in the morning room. There were traces of tears on her face and a haggard look in her blue eyes. She clung to Harding’s arm as the detective entered.

“ I’m glad you’ve come back, D.V.,” said the latter. “If you hadn’t telephoned to say you were arriving we should have cleared out. I’m taking Miss Sunderland back to town with me.”

“ The best place for you both,” agreed Vidler. “ I shall be here some" time going through Lee’s papers.” “ Oh, it’s ghastly ! ” eried Sheila. “Mr Lee of all people. And poor Mrs Lee ! ”

“ Hoiv did she take it ? ” asked Vidler.

“ Better than I thought,” answered Harding, who had actually broken the news to her “ She doesn’t believe it, of course, at present.”

“ He’s confessed.” “ I feel I ought to stop,” said Sheila. “ Mrs Lee ”

The inspector looked at her drawn face and shook her head. Her underlip was trembling, and she was clutching Harding’s arm convulsively. She was very near a breakdown, and he shook his head decidedly. ‘‘ you must get right away quickly. Miss Sunderland,” he said firmly. “ Mrs Lee has a sister in Hastings, and I have telephoned for her to come along. She will be here before Mrs Lee returns. I think the sooner you both leave the better.”

* * * It was a week before he saw them together again, and he marvelled at the change in her appearance. Though there was a sad look in her blue eyes on occasion, she had recaptured much of the youth that was hers, and she greeted the detective with a happy smile on her face. Harding had reserved a table for three in the Piccadilly restaurant, and as they sat down he, too, had a look of contentment on his face which had

been missing since he had first become involved in the Ditchling road mystery. “ I shall never be afraid of Scotland Yard again,” declared Sheila, smiling

‘ If everybody thought the same aa you, Miss Sunderland,” replied the inspector, “ we should solve most of our mysteries. I had a chat with the commissioner this morning. He does 'not think it will be necessary for you to be called at all. The pearls may not even be mentioned.”

I am glad,” said Sheila, seriously. I dreaded—oh, I can’t tell you how much—-the thought of—of seeing Mr Lee again in those circumstances.” “Nor will you be wanted, Hardin",” continued Vidler. °

“ When’s the trial coming off, D.V.,* asked Harding. “It won’t be for six weeks at least,” replied Vidler.

Harding filled his glass before he spoke again. “ I bought a new aeroplane this morning. As I shan’t be wanted to give evidence I propose making a leisurely tour of the Continent till it’s all over.” “The best thing you can do,” agreed Vidler.

He looked across at Sheila, who was gazing at' her lover in astonishment. “You never told me, Robert.” “ I’ve only just thought about it since D.V. said we’d not be wanted, my darling. The aeroplane’s a two-seater, side by side, and I’ve called it the Honeymoon Bird.”

Sheila blushed -furiously and Vidler chuckled.

“So that’s the way the wind blows, is it? Fixed up the best man yet?” “Yes,” replied Harding. “D.V. and all that, I propose to invite you to act.” “I hoped you would,” replied the inspector, looking at the flushed cheeks of Sheila. There was a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke. “ I had a very special reason for wanting to be.” “Oh, what is it?” asked Harding. “ It’s the best man’s privilege to kiss the bride,” answered Vidler. “ I’m a believer in keeping up the old customs.” “ I don’t seem to be consulted,” cried Sheila happily. “ We’re in the majority, and you are outvoted, darling heart,” answered the lover.

“ I know what I shall not give the bride,” said Vidler. as he raised his glass and silently toasted her. “ And that is a rope of pearls.”

(The End.)